ANT 102: Archaeology: Mysteries and Controversies

Looting: Taking ancient artifacts, usually for personal gain,without paying any attention to archaeological context

Nov. 12th: Looting

1. Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question

3. Evaluating evidence

2. Recognizing multiple answers to a question or a problem

5. Exploring the ethical implications of differing approaches, methods or conclusions

4. Developing potential solutions to problems based on sound evidence and reasoning

Aspects of Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences

Looting: Taking ancient artifacts, usually for personal gain,without paying any attention to archaeological context

1. Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question

Aspects of Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences

3. Evaluating evidence

2. Recognizing multiple answers to a question or a problem

5. Exploring the ethical implications of differing approaches, methods or conclusions

4. Developing potential solutions to problems based on sound evidence and reasoning

Looting: Taking ancient artifacts, usually for personal gain,without paying any attention to archaeological context

General introduction to lootingWhat, who, why, how

Why looting is bad

Is there anything good about looting?

Who should be blamed?

What is the scale of looting?

Can looting be stopped? How?

…An authentic Aztec representationof Tlazolteotl, the Aztec goddess of childbirth, filth, sin, and regeneration1400 AD.

An imaginedprop based on

Slack Farm, Kentucky

Dennis Banks

Slack Farm,Union County,

Kentucky

Aurich site, pacific coast of Peru

Slack Farm,Union County,

Kentucky

General introduction to looting

What: Taking ancient artifacts, usually for personal gain, without paying any attention to archaeological context

Who: Collectors (aristocrats), dealers (aristocrats), middle men, looters (poor people)

Why: Money, Curiosity, Cultural Capital (prestige)

How: from collecting arrowheads, to digging holes with pick and shovel, to mass destruction of ruins by bulldozers and other heavy machinery

Scale of looting

Aurich site, pacific coast of Peru

Classic Mimbres pots(1000-1130 A.D.)Arizona and New Mexico.

Looter’s trench ina Maya mound inBelize, Central America

Problems with looting

1. Destruction of archaeological sites

Looted Maya mound inBelize, Central America

Aurich site, Peru

Slack Farm,Kentucky

Problems with looting

1. Destruction of archaeological sites

2. Loss of information

Slack Farm,Kentucky

Slack farm case: lost opportunities to learn about…a) Trade and exchange

e) Relation between Slack Farm people and contemporary tribes

b) Nutrition, disease, age at death, genetic relatedness

c) Impact of European contact on native health d) Impact of European contact on local economy, politics, ritual

Problems with looting

1. Destruction of archaeological sites

2. Loss of information

3. Loss of context

--Where an artifact is found and what it is found with tells us what it was for

stone basin --grinding food?--grinding minerals?--collecting water?

Problems with looting

1. Destruction of archaeological sites

2. Loss of information

3. Loss of context

Maya inkwell carved with glyphsthat talk of a scribe/painter

--Where an artifact is found and what it is found with tells us what it was for

stone basin --grinding corn?--grinding minerals--collecting water?

Problems with looting

1. Destruction of archaeological sites

2. Loss of information

3. Loss of context

--Where an artifact is found and what it is found with tells us what it was for

stone basin --grinding corn?--grinding minerals?--collecting water?

Problems with looting

1. Destruction of archaeological sites

2. Loss of information

3. Loss of context

--Stratigraphic context of an artifact often tells us how old it is

--Where an artifact is found and what it is found with tells us what it was for

Stratigraphy

Problems with looting

1. Destruction of archaeological sites

2. Loss of information

3. Loss of context

--Where an artifact is found and what it is found with tells us what it was for

--What an artifact is found with can tell us about trade and long distance contact

--Stratigraphic context of an artifact is found often tells us how old it is

Representation of Andean Staff god, fromthe site of Tiwanaku, Bolivia (circa 800 AD)

Stone-work from Maya area, Mexico (circa 800 AD)

Screen capture from Raiders of the lost Arc

Maya vase:approx. 700 AD

Very specific case study about the info.we lose when we do not have context

Tikal

Naranjo

Holmul

Ucanal

Caracol

Buenavista

CahalPech

hieroglyphs

Tikal

Naranjo

Holmul

Ucanal

Caracol

Buenavista

CahalPech

Owned by Itsam BalamOf Ucanal

(according to hieroglyphs)

Owned by K’ak Til of Naranjo(according to hieroglyphs)

Tikal

Naranjo

Holmul

Ucanal

Caracol

Buenavista

CahalPech

What we can say WITHOUT context?

Owner was K’ak Til from Naranjo

Painter was Ah Maxam, a well-known master

Used for drinking chocolate

Part of Holmul style, Guatemala

We can’t say as much about most looted artifacts

What we can say WITH context?

Tikal

Naranjo

Holmul

Ucanal

Caracol

Buenavista

CahalPech

This pot, known as the Buenavista Vase, was excavatedfrom a nobleman’s tomb at the Belizean site of Buenvista

What we can say WITHOUT context?

Owner was K’ak Til from Naranjo

Painter was Ah Maxam, a master

Used for drinking chocolate

Part of Holmul style, Guatemala

Additional things we can learn WITH context

It was found at the ruin of Buenavista, in Belize

It was found in a burial of a young nobleman

K’ak Til was NOT the final owner

Final usage was not for drinking cacao

Found in a burial

Tells us about gift exchange among kings and subordinate leaders,a strategy for consolidating power.

Problems with looting

1. Destruction of archaeological sites

2. Loss of information

3. Loss of context

4. It is stealing

Hauberg stela

Maya culture

Probably fromGuatemala (nowin a vault in Seattle) butsince it is lootedwe don’t knowwhere it is from.

Is there anything good about looting?

1) Developing countries do not have the resources to preserve the past so it is better to loot artifacts and smuggle them to countries with more resources

--Poor quality museum and storage space

NOT NECESSARILY TRUE!

Royal tomb of Sipan, Pacific coast of Peru

Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipan,Located in the city of Chiclayo, Peru